Huntsville, Ala.: The Thunderbolts held a 4-1 lead in the third period, before the Havoc rallied to tie the game and force overtime, followed by a shootout, where Huntsville unfortunately came up victorious 5-4 at Huntsville on Friday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Wednesday, January 14th against the Birmingham Bulls at 7:00pm CT.
Evansville struck first, as Derek Contessa scored off a set up from Tyson Gilmour at 8:44 of the first period. 5:52 into the second period, Jordan Simoneau scored to make it 2-0 on a delayed penalty call, assisted by Matthew Hobbs and Scott Kirton. Huntsville trimmed the lead to 2-1 at 12:02 as Connor Galloway scored on a 2-on-1 just following a power play opportunity. The Thunderbolts finished the period strong as Gilmour scored a power play goal from Kirton and Matt Clark to make it 3-1 through two periods. In the third period, Hobbs scored only 19 seconds in off a deflection from Max Thiessen and Simoneau to make it 4-1, but just could not extend the lead any further. The Havoc rallied with three goals in a span of 3:29 as Josh Kestner scored at 8:24, Cole Golka scored at 9:41, and Galloway scored once again at 11:53 to tie the game 4-4. Shortly afterward, a breakaway chance for Simoneau to put Evansville back in front just barely missed as Simoneau beat Wilson but hit the post. In overtime, the Thunderbolt survived a Havoc power play chance but fell 2-1 in the shootout which went 8 rounds, with Eelis Laaksonen scoring the goal for Evansville.
Simoneau, Hobbs, and Gilmour each scored one goal and one assist, Contessa scored one goal, and Kirton tallied a pair of assists. In goal, Cody Karpinski stopped 37 of 41 shots plus 6 of 8 in the shootout. The Thunderbolts and Havoc meet again on Saturday, January 10th at Von Braun Center, with Huntsville leading the regular season series 3-1.
